| Talkback | |
|
Title: | On the Syrian front | |||
| |||||
| Name: | Tosefta | | |||
| |||||
| City: | Tveria | State: | | ||
| "Mossad head Meir Dagan said Syria would be unlikely to break its ties with Iran, even if talks with Israel resumed and it repaired relations with Washington. Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin disagreed, and said it was possible Syria could sever these ties in exchange for a reversal of American policy and an Israeli agreement to talk about the Golan Heights." - Haaretz "Olmert believes negotiations with Syria should be seriously considered "if this would bring an end to its involvement in terrorism and extricate it from the axis of evil"." - Haaretz The Syrians offered time and again to enter peace talks with Israel. At first, Olmert simply ignored it. Then he set a precondition: Israel will enter into talks only if Syria will promise to stop supporting the anti-Israel terror groups and cut itself off from Iran. That is, first Syria will "disarm" itself from other groups that assist and help protect it, and then Israel will talk. Of course, this was a non-starter. More recently, Israel checked with the US whether talking with Syria will be OK, but Bush was cool and said the US itself will not participate. On the other hand, Syria itself insisted that the US be involved. Olmert now realizes that talks with Syria may have a positive effect, but he seems not to understand the Syrian position. The US is a threat to Syria, especially under Bush. Iran provides some protection. Of course Syria would rather have a state like the US as a friend instead of Iran. Iran is not a natural ally for Syria; it is Shiite while most Syrians are Sunni, it is religiously fundamentalist while the Syrian regime is secular, and Arabs don`t like Persians too much. But given the threat, Syria is better off with Iran than with nobody. What Olmert should do is work on Bush, and mobilize neocons and other friends to convince Dumbya that talking with Iran is good for the US; it can remove Iran from the region. Olmert can imagine talking with Syria, but he needs to do some hard work on Bush, or else he will be wasting his time, as usual. |
| |  |
|
 |
|
 |
